Pages

John Forbes, who has been a MasterClass instructor at MasterWorks, preached on "The Road to Emmaus," Luke 24:13-35. Walking away from Golgotha with their faces downcast, the travelers had their focus in the wrong place altogether.

This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

The version of "Dark Gethsemane" Rich Swingle used for his movement piece is not available on Grooveshark. You can download it on iTunes.

WCCC Worship 4/27/14 by RichS on Grooveshark
Grooveshark is a third party source. If you listen on their website you will encounter advertisements, none of which are vetted or endorsed by Westchester Chapel. We encourage you to click Settings, then Preferences, then check the box for "Only show me family-friendly themes." If there are still ads that you find offensive we encourage you to click the "Report Ad" link below the ad.

Our audience gave it a double applause: when the credits began, and then again after photos caught us up with the real Burpo family, the subjects of the film. Also, those around me were singing along with "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" as the credits rolled. Though there are exponentially more churches than theatres in the US, our society has felt the impact of media more in recent years, so it was refreshing to feel like we were having church in a theatre.

All that being said, Joyce and I didn't walk away uplifted the way we did after Son of God or God's Not Dead (which placed 5, 5, 4, 7 for its first four weeks of the box office). It may have been because we walked in with such high expectations.

My grandfather died when my mom was nine weeks and my aunt was 17 months old. My grandma begged the Lord to bring him back. He did. Grandma told us all every year on the anniversary of his death, so I remember like I was there: "Hilda, I'll miss you and the girls, but it's so wonderful there! I've seen the Lord. It's far better to be with Him. He will give you another husband who will be a father to our daughters. Let me go." He lived another week, but eventually Grandma released him in her heart and he fell into the arms of Jesus, who fulfilled his promise to send her another husband.

Though I haven't read the book Heaven Is for Real, a #1 New York Times best seller, I dipped into it and mentioned the highlights when I preached at my other grandma's funeral last year: "God's Love Is for Real."

So we walked into the theatre expecting a lot. The film delivered in many respects, and I hope theatres around the world pack out the way they did that night. It certainly gets people thinking about the reality of heaven.

There was just one moment that let me down: There's a line that implies God's love is big enough to let everyone into heaven.

I hope you'll bring pre-believing friends and family to see it, and I hope you'll let them know what Jesus said:

“In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

WCCC Worship 4/20/14, Easter by RichS on Grooveshark Grooveshark is a third party source. If you listen on their website you will encounter advertisements, none of which are vetted or endorsed by Westchester Chapel. We encourage you to click Settings, then Preferences, then check the box for "Only show me family-friendly themes." If there are still ads that you find offensive we encourage you to click the "Report Ad" link below the ad. Photo courtesy of NicolettiPhoto.com.

Rich Swingle will lead Cry of the Whole Congregation by Walter Wangerin, Jr., from his book The Ragman and Other Cries of Faith.

WCCC Worship 4/18/14 Good Friday by RichS on Grooveshark
Grooveshark is a third party source. If you listen on their website you will encounter advertisements, none of which are vetted or endorsed by Westchester Chapel. We encourage you to click Settings, then Preferences, then check the box for "Only show me family-friendly themes." If there are still ads that you find offensive we encourage you to click the "Report Ad" link below the ad.

January 2017 it's in theaters in Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois, and it will be released on DVD through CourageousLoveMovie.com and on www.PureFlix.com starting Valentine's Weekend, facing off against 50 Shades Darker. In the interview below Daniel does a great job of expressing how Hollywood tries to tell a compelling love story, which has elements of the greatest love story, the Gospel.

Daniel has a real heart for the Lord and a vision for telling God's truth in powerful ways, and we were thrilled with how it turned out! It has one of the most creative arguments for the reality of God I've seen on film.

When Joyce and I had our pre-engagement counseling session, our counselor drilled us with all the questions you don't want to ask when you're getting to know each other: political affiliation, denomination, etc. We were firing on so many cylinders I thought it would be safe to throw in some humor. When the counselor asked how many kids we each wanted I threw out twelve, just for laughs. Joyce nearly fell out of her chair. We have a big laugh about it now, especially since Rather to Be Chosen has brought us our twelfth screen child!

Our screen children connected with
me at the 2016 Christian Worldview
Film Festival.

This service is available for download free on iTunes, where you can also subscribe to our podcast. Search for "Westchester Chapel" on the iTunes Store.

WCCC Worship 4/6/14 by RichS on Grooveshark
Grooveshark is a third party source. If you listen on their website you will encounter advertisements, none of which are vetted or endorsed by Westchester Chapel. We encourage you to click Settings, then Preferences, then check the box for "Only show me family-friendly themes." If there are still ads that you find offensive we encourage you to click the "Report Ad" link below the ad.
Photo courtesy of NicolettiPhoto.com.

Now taking applications for the MasterWorks Festival theatre program: www.RichDrama.com/MWFTheatre. Training and performances in IN, PA and NYC, including an Off-Broadway theatre!

I've been a fan of Rich Christiano's films for years, so I was thrilled to connect with him at the Christian Worldview Film Festival in San Antonio last month. His newest film will be released in theatres this September. Click through to help get the word out and bring it to a theatre in your city...